


Paging Dr. Love

by Katieb161



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Medical, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Eventual Romance, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-08 15:20:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15933134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katieb161/pseuds/Katieb161
Summary: AU where Team Flash are doctors..Barry and Iris meet at work





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I am trying something different. These chapters will be longer than my last stories. I also don't plan for this to be a series, but not sure how long this one will get. 
> 
> I am not a doctor and my only medical knowledge is ER, House, the good doctor and google, so if I mess up any medical stuff...sorry in advance. 
> 
> I am also trying something new with a slow burn.
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> xx

She had a smile on her face when she walked into the tall white building. Her whole life had been leading up to this moment. She thought back to the late nights, barely surviving on coffee and red bulls, never having any sleep, literally getting sick worrying about finals. It all came to this, her first day of residency since graduating medical school.

She was barely in the door when she heard her name being shouted, she turned around to see her favorite study partner.

"Cisco, glad to see you made it."

He grinned at his friend, "Hey it wasn't my fault. Did you know that telling people you are a doctor does not get you cuts in line at Jitters."

Iris smiled at him while she took the americano from his hands that he brought for her. "Well thank you for thinking about me."

"You know you my girl." They both laughed as they continued into the hospital, ready for the excitement the day was sure to bring.

They met with the rest of the residents in the middle of the ER. Iris had gone back and forth about where she wanted to practice medicine. During her 3rd year of med school, she had dipped her hands in a few areas. She was almost sold on surgery, she thought it would make a better impression for her mother. A mother who no matter what, always seemed to be just a little disappointed in Iris. It wasn't until her first overnight shift in the ER that she decided that was the type of doctor she wanted to be.

Iris recognized a few people from med school. Obviously there was Cisco, she also knew Caitlin and Patty. The attending arrived to begin the orientation. "Welcome residents to Central City University Hospital. I hope you have had you coffee because it is going to be a long day. My name is Dr. Harrison Wells, and I am your attending. Let's go around the room and introduc-"

"SORRY, Sorry I'm late," a man came running around the corner. Iris couldn't help but snicker, he was so awkward. He was all limbs trying to juggle his messenger bag, cup of coffee, and was that...a box of donuts? He clumsily sat his belongings down and came closer to join the group.

"As I was saying, " Wells continued, "Let's everyone introduce themselves. Tell us your name and one fact about you that many people don't know. We'll start here." Wells pointed at Caitlin.

"Okay, I am Caitlin Snow and um, I like Karaoke." the team laughed. They moved on to the next person.

"What's up guys, I'm Cisco Ramon and I believe Star Trek is a million times better than Star Wars, don't @ me."

"I'm Patty Spivot and I can take apart and reassemble a 9mm in one minute and fifty two seconds."

"Remind me again not to get on your bad side," Cisco added.

"I'm Scott Evans and I thought I was going to be in psychology until a patient attacked me in med school."

"Ah, yes, I remember hearing about that, well don't worry Dr. Evans, we will make sure that you are safe here," Wells reassured. "Who's next?"

"Hey, I'm Iris West and I planned on becoming a journalist if med school didn't work out."

"A journalist huh, well those skills will come handy working in an ER. Okay last but not least, Dr. Lateness."

They all turned to look at him. Instantly his whole being from the neck up turned red. He stuttered a bit and moved his hand to graze the back of his next. Iris was watching him thinking how this was going to get interesting. He finally spoke, "Um, Barry Allen and I am always late...and sorry."

Iris chuckled, she didn't mean too. She wondered where this guy came from. Once the introductions were finished, Wells advised them that he would spitting them into three teams of two. He would give each team a stack of charts and the team that got through their charts first would win a special prize at the end of the day. Iris turned to Cisco and gave him a look of 'we've got this in the bag' when Wells blindsided her. "I will be picking the teams."

It was just her luck that she ended up with Barry Allen. She was hoping that she was paired up with anyone but him. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she didn't even know him. But he had already made a bad first impression showing up late on the first day. And if he was showing up late, what else could he mess up. She tried not to think anymore negative thoughts as she took the charts from Dr. Wells.

She gave Cisco a disappointed look and headed over to meet with Barry. "Okay Dr. Allen, we have three charts here," she opened the first one and started reading it over. "Okay female patient, 16, presents with symptoms of being lightheaded, nausea and vomiting."

She looked up to see Barry's gaze boring into her. Normally it would make her feel uncomfortable, someone looking at her like that, but it made her feel bashful. Barry seemed to notice because he quickly averted his attention to the chart in her hand. She nervously handed it to him and began reading over the next chart.

Once they had familiarized themselves with their patients, they started their rounds. The checked on the easiest patient first. A 10 year old boy who had fallen at recess. He had a big gash on his arm that required stitches. Iris let Barry take the reins on that one. She wanted to see how good he was.

She could tell the little boy was a little bit scared. Before she had a chance to say anything to calm him, Barry spoke, "So how did this happen?"

"I was running on top of the monkey bars and I fell," the boy answered.

"Wow, that's a pretty brave thing to do, running on top of the monkey bars."

"I just wanted to show Amy how cool I was." Barry looked at the kid and smiled, he then looked at Iris and did the same.

"Is Amy your friend?"

"Yeah, but I wish she was my girlfriend." Another smile was elicited from Barry. He was able to keep the little boy talking the whole time. After about 15 minutes, he was finished. Iris was more than impressed. The boy never even realized what was going on. She also learned a new technique for doing stitches. Maybe she had the wrong idea about Barry Allen.

They left the room to begin the discharge paperwork for the patient. "Where did you learn to do that?" she asked Barry.

"Do what?"

"Those stitches, I have never seen them done so quickly and effortlessly."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck again, "Oh, um, my dad. He is a surgeon."

"Wait, your dad is Henry Allen, as in chief of surgery Henry Allen?"

Barry chucked, "Yeah that's him, the great Dr. Allen."

Iris could pick up on something, but couldn't quiet figure out what it was. "Is that why you became a doctor?"

"Something like that." There was a bit of an awkward silence, then finally, "Okay so our next patient is Mallory Jenkins, the 16 year old girl. You should take the lead on this one." Iris didn't ask any questions, she just took the chart from Barry and they headed to check on the patient.

"Ms. Jenkins, I'm Dr. West, this is Dr. Allen. Tell us what's going on."

"Well, I haven't been feeling good the last few weeks. I have been having really bad stomach pains, constantly nauseous and throwing up. Today I got really light headed."

"Okay, well your vitals are good. When was your last period?"

"I've never had one."

Barry and Iris looked at each other. "This might be a little embarrassing, but I have to ask, when were you last sexual active without protection?"

Mallory blushed and looked at Barry. She finally answered, "It only happened one time, we just forgot. It was a while ago."

"Mallory, are you parents here with you?"

"NO, they don't know I'm here." Another look between doctors.

"Okay, I am going to draw some blood, is that okay?" Iris asked her.

"Yeah, that's fine." Iris took her time and care with obtaining the blood sample. Barry was impressed by how easily she was able to find a vein. Once they had the sample Iris assured Mallory that they would take care of her.

"Thanks Doctor...doctors." Iris smiled at the patient and her and walked out into the hallway.

"She's definitely pregnant."

"How do you know? I mean we haven't even gotten the labs back," Barry asked confused.

"Trust me, a woman knows." she smirked at him and headed towards the lab to drop of the sample.

The last patient that they were responsible for had come in the day before with chest pains, he returned to the ER because he just felt like something wasn't right. During the intake, Iris could tell that he really didn't have any symptoms, she was starting to think that the patient just wanted attention, especially since he had been discharged yesterday with a clean bill of health. They ordered a few tests just to make sure nothing was missed the day before.

It was around 2pm. They were already half way through their 12 hour shift. "How about some lunch?" Iris asked Barry.

"Sure!" he answered with a big grin.

They made their way to the cafeteria. Iris wasn't even worried about impressing anyone, she ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a brownie sundae with extra whipped cream. When they got to the table, she starting working on the brownie first. She was elbow deep into the ice cream when she looked up and saw Barry laughing at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, you just have some..." he pointed to his nose. After repeated attempts to wipe whatever it was off of her nose, he finally grabbed a napkin and reached across the table to wipe it for her.  
It caught her off guard and sent a feeling down her spine that she did not recognize. "Thanks," she said shyly.

"You're Welcome." he answered red faced. Before anything else could be said, both of their pagers went off. Iris took two more bites of her ice cream and grabbed her tray, throwing it away as they both headed back to the ER.

When they got there they were met by the nurse, Thea, "Your guy in three, his pressure and heart rate dropped."

Barry and Iris both rushed to the patient. When they made it to the room, Barry checked his vitals, his blood pressure was dangerously low and heart rate weak. Within a few seconds of them arriving, they heard the worst sound they could hear. "He's flat lining, grab the crash cart."

Iris rushed out to find the crash cart and called for someone to get Dr. Wells. When she got back, Barry was doing chest compression's. He blew a few breaths into the patient and checked again. Iris got the paddles charged up and handed them to Barry. "CLEAR!"

He pressed the paddles into the patients chest. Nothing. "Charge to 300! CLEAR!" He tried again. He waited a second and they finally heard the monitor start to beep again. Just then Dr. Wells ran into the room.

"We saved him," Barry said with look of relief.

"You saved him," Iris corrected.

Barry blushed, "It was a team effort."

"Good job you two. Now let's figure out why this mans heart stopped." Wells added.

They ordered more tests for the patient. While they were waiting on those results, the test results had come back on Mallory Jenkins.

"You were right." Barry startled Iris. She looked up from the paperwork she was working on. "You were right, she is pregnant."

"I told you. This is going to be a tough one." Barry looked at her confused. She continued, "She's only 16. And I'm sure she will be scared. I mean, who knows what her home life is like." She stood up and grabbed the chart, "Are you ready Dr. Allen." Iris walked towards the patients room and Barry followed quickly behind her.

"Mallory," Iris called out as she entered the room. "How are you feeling?"

"My stomach is still hurting."

"Well, we got the test results back. You are pregnant."

"Pregnant? That can't be right, I mean I haven't even had my period yet. Plus, he pulled out."

Iris was annoyed to no end. She hated that there wasn't enough education on pregnancy and pregnancy prevention in high school. These kids had no idea. "Well, you can technically still ovulate even without a period, it only takes the right circumstances. And the pull out method is not an effective form of birth control. It's actually the worst form of birth control."

Mallory started crying, "You're not going to tell my parents are you."

"Well, you're 16 so legally I can't if you don't want me to, but it might be a good idea."

"NO, no, you can't tell them, you can't."

"Okay, I promise I won't. Neither of us will." Iris reassured her and then looked back at Barry for confirmation.

"So when will I have this baby?"

"Well, we are going to do an ultrasound and see if we can tell how far along you are, since we can't go by your last period. It'll be okay, I promise." The doctors left the room and started working on getting an ultrasound tech to the ER.

After what seemed like hours, they finally had the results on the patient who's heart had stopped. Turned out he had an arrhythmia that they missed during his last ER visit. He was going to need a pacemaker but he would be okay. He kept thanking them for saving his life. It was probably the greatest moment in Barry's life.

Their shift had almost come to an end. Iris was exhausted. She couldn't wait to get off of her feet and into her bed. She was in the lounge, laying on the couch when Cisco came in. "Please move you feet and let me sit down, this day....oh this day!"

Iris moved over to let Cisco sit next to her. He plopped down on the couch and let out a deep sigh. "That bad huh?" Iris asked him.

"Let's just say, if I never have to drain a polinidal cyst again, it would be too soon." he leaned his head against the back of the couch, "But hey, I heard you have had a good day, you saved someones life."  
Iris rolled her eyes, "All I did was charge the paddles, Barry saved him." Cisco noticed the slight grin that crept up on her face when she said Barry.

"Right...anyways, did you get all your patients discharged from the ER?"

"Not yet, waiting on an ultrasound for one of them. She's 16 and just found out she is pregnant. She is scared to tell her parents, I mean, I couldn't imagine going through that all alone."

"Yeah, that's gotta be rough. Well good luck with that. I'm going to Jitters, you want anything?"

And that was Cisco, as subtle as ever, "No I'm okay, thanks though."

He patted her on the leg and got up to leave for his coffee run. As he was leaving, Barry walked into the lounge. "Congrats on your save today," Cisco told him on his way out.

"Thanks." Barry turned towards Iris, "Hey, we have the results of the ultrasound, you're not going to believe this."

And she didn't. Not only was Mallory pregnant, it was an ectopic pregnancy. Iris knew that this was serious, she also knew that Mallory needed to tell her parents because she was going to have to go through a medical procedure.

She walked into Mallory's room a bit sullen. "Mallory, we need to talk about something important." Iris pulled a chair over close to the bed. Barry waited by the door, wanting to give them some semblance of privacy. He felt like Iris had built a rapport with her and felt she would be the best one to deliver the news. "The ultra sound showed that you have an ectopic pregnancy."

Concern showed on Mallory's face, "What does that mean?"

"It means that your baby is in your Fallopian tubes instead of your uterus. Now there have been women who have carried to term this way, but my suggestion to you would be to terminate the pregnancy."

Mallory couldn't stop the tears from falling, "You mean have an abortion."

Iris was heartbroken for the girl. "Yes. I think that would be the safest course of action." Mallory didn't respond. "Are you sure you don't want me to call someone."

"No, they can't know."

"Okay. We are going to get an OB to take care of you okay."

"You're not going to do it?" Mallory asked her.

"No, but I will stay with you if you want."

"I'd like that."

Iris handed the chart off to the OB. Their shift was over. They hadn't won the contest, that honor went to Scott and Patty. Iris and Barry weren't disappointed though, they thought they had a pretty good day.

Iris did exactly what she said she would, she stayed with Mallory through her whole procedure and waited by her bedside until she woke up. Mallory was grateful for Iris. After a long talk, she decided that she did want to see her mother. Iris made the call and Mrs. Jenkins was at the hospital within a half hour.

She was finally happy to be able to leave for the evening. It was already 9pm and she had another 12 hour shift at 9am. She walked out of the building and saw Barry sitting on the bench by the entrance.

It was almost like he had been waiting for her.

"You're still here?" she asked him.

He stood up, hoovering above her. "Yeah I just wanted to make sure everything went okay with Mallory."

"Yeah, the procedure went off without a hitch. I finally convinced her to call her mom, so she is in with her now."

"That's great! You know you were amazing today," Barry nervously told her as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You weren't so bad yourself Allen." she smiled. He looked like he wanted to say something else. There was a long pause before Iris finally said, "Well, goodnight Barry, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll see ya." He watched her walk away until he couldn't see her anymore. In that moment, he decided that he wanted to get to know her a whole lot better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at summary's and tagging because I'm scared I will give the story away so I won't be writing them for this story.
> 
> A super big thanks to bwhams who so humbly and graciously beta'd this chapter for me.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> xx

Iris was awoken by the sounds of her roommate Linda creating a remix to 'Chandelier' in the shower. She looked at her clock, it was 7 am. Iris had pulled an all nighter at the hospital and had just gotten to sleep not too long ago. Her only saving grace was she had the day off.

Even though she loved Linda, she cursed herself for having a roommate. They met through a roommate matching app and became fast friends after they moved in together. It had only been a year, but so far, she had been a pretty good roomie. Linda worked at CCPN as a sports reporter. Iris always admired her for that. Once or twice they met up at CCPN and Iris was always in awe of the bustling newsroom.

When she was a child, English was her favorite subject. She would always go around the neighborhood, interviewing people and then writing about it. At the age of 14, she remembered coming home from school, excited, because she was chosen to be one of the writers for the school paper. She couldn't believe the teacher thought she would be good enough.

Her mother, however, made it quite clear that she didn't think it was a good idea. Her exact words were, "Iris, don't you think your time would be better served doing something your good at, like cheerleading?" That was the last time Iris thought about writing.

Her second favorite subject was biology. She decided that she would put her focus into that. When they got to anatomy and physiology, she started thinking about med school. When she approached the subject with her mother, she was very happy. It wasn't her first choice, but once she got into it, she enjoyed it.

Even though she and her mother, Francine, had a contentious relationship, she decided to go to school locally because she didn't want to leave her dad. Joe West was a homicide detective at CCPD. He rose through the ranks quickly. They eventually wanted him to be captain. He thought about it, lord knows Francine heavily encouraged it, but in the end, he was just happy with being a detective.

Iris was the first born, she also had a younger brother Wally. She was always closer with her father. Part of it had to do with the fact that her mother had wanted a boy and was disappointed when Iris came out the wrong gender. When Wally was born, Iris saw a side of her mother that she had never seen before. For many years, she was jealous of and resented her brother, but time heals all wounds and now Wally was her best friend.

An hour later, Iris heard Linda leaving for the day. She was rejoicing as she was finally able to go back to sleep. She was back in dream land within 10 minutes.  She was able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep. When she woke up, she laid in the bed for a while, going through her social media. During med school, she had no social life. Between classes and interning, she barely had time to sleep. She had to live vicariously through Insta and Facebook.

Now that she was no longer in school, she did have a little bit more time. Most of her days were spent at the hospital, but when she needed to let loose, she would go out with her colleagues. There was a bar next to the hospital that they would sometimes go to after a rough day. Her and Cisco were already close due to them being in the same study group all through med school.

She had known of Caitlin from med school, she ended up graduating at the top of their class. She always seemed very focused and driven. It wasn't until an impromptu trip to the bar after a particularly difficult shift, that she saw that Caitlin really did know how to have a good time. After knocking back way too many drinks, she attempted to perform a tracheotomy on a hot dog. Iris ended up taking Caitlin home with her in an Uber, where she proceeded to pass out on the couch for the better part of 10 hours. After that, Iris and her became a lot closer.

Once she was done wasting some time in bed, Iris thought it was time to get up and act like she wanted to be productive. She wandered into the kitchen to make coffee and ended up on the couch where she spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening catching up on Love and Hip Hop. She would never admit it, but it was her guilty pleasure.

Linda finally made it home with pizza in hand. "You would not believe the day I had." She walked into the living room and sat the pizza down on the coffee table. Iris went to the kitchen to grab two beers and plates for them and headed back to the couch. "You would think I had leprosy the way some of these players avoid me, I mean, I know you don't like talking to the media, but I'm just doing my job."

"Tell me about it. The other day, I had a patient who refused to answer any questions until they got a male doctor, like we didn't all go to medical school." Iris laughed at the memory.

She passed the patient along to Scott as he was the only other male doctor available, plus she wanted to teach him a lesson. He had stolen one of Iris' patients the week before and this would be pay back. He was all too happy to take another chart. He was very arrogant and always wanted to one up everybody. Iris had conveniently forgot to mention what the guy was in the ER for. Scott was very unhappy later on in the lounge when he confronted Iris.

"If you don't want to deal with a nasty case, don't pass it off on me!" he shouted at her.

She snickered which seemed to only make him even more upset, "I would never, the patient specifically requested a male doctor, you were the only one available."

"Well you at least could have warned me what I was getting myself into!"

"I'm sorry Scott, you're right."

He turned around to leave the lounge when Iris called out, "Did he say how the remote got up there?" Scott stopped in his tracks, turned around and flipped her the bird before he walked out.

Iris loved regaling Linda with tales of her work place adventures. Linda took notice of how she would always light up when she would talk about the hospital. "You really love it there don't you?" Linda asked her.

Iris thought about all of her patients that she helped, and the new friends she was making. She unquestionably was feeling very fulfilled in life. "Yeah, yeah I do."

"Now all we need to do is find you a man."

"Linda-"

"Iris, we have lived together now a year and you have never once brought home a guy or even talked about going on a date."

"I'm a doctor Linda, I don't have time to date."

"You could if you wanted to. There aren't any cute doctors at the hospital that you could, I dunno, have fun with?"

"Linda, i am there to work and save lives, not meet some guy to have fun with." And that was the honest to god truth, Iris really hadn't paid attention to any of the doctors, like that. If she had to think of someone, she thought Scott was handsome, even as arrogant as he was. Cisco, he was a friend, and that would be weird. Then she thought about Barry. He was cute, in an adorkable nerd kind of way. And he was really tall, and his eyes were pretty. She guessed if she did hook up with anyone at the hospital, it would be one of those two. But, dating was the last thing on her mind.

               

A few days later, Iris was at the hospital working another overnighter. It was a fairly quiet night. Iris was working with Caitlin and Barry. Her favorite attending was working too, Dr. Cecile Horton. She was petite, but she was feisty. Iris always learned something new when they worked together. She would consider her a mentor.

Dr. Horton implored to the team to get some rest while they could. At any moment, a trauma could come bursting through the doors and it was going to be a long night. Iris was pretty rested, she had an unheard of two days off in a row. Instead of trying to fit in a nap, she decided to roam the halls of the hospital.

She made her way to the elevators when she ran into Barry. "Fancy seeing you here." Gosh he was corny. Iris giggled at the sentiment.

"Yeah, I'm not in the mood for a nap, I was just going to roam the halls of the hospital, in the middle of the night, like a ghost."

"Well I hate to break it to you, but you won't be doing any sneaking with those loud shoes."

Iris looked down at her crocs, "Yeah, they are noisy, but they are comfortable."

"Fair enough." Another one of those awkward silences between them. Finally Barry spoke up, "Would you like some company?"

Iris smiled up at him, "Yeah."

They made their way down the dimly lit corridors of the hospital. Iris struck up a conversation. "So, what made you go into emergency medicine? I mean, your dad is one of the most accomplished surgeons in the country."

Barry's hand went to the back of his neck. This clearly was a sensitive subject for him. "Oh what, you didn't know?"

"Know what?" she asked.

"ER doctors have all the fun." Iris lightly slapped him on the arm. He relented, "All my life, I have been steered in the direction my father wanted for me. I love being a doctor, don't get me wrong, but I would have rather been a scientist." They stopped at the hospital chapel. Iris looked up at Barry and gave him a shrug of her shoulders. He opened the door and they both walked in and sat down on one of the pews.

"Anyways, I went along with med school because that was what he wanted. The next step would have been to start my surgical residency, but for the first time in my life, I wanted to make the choice that I wanted. Dad of course tried his hardest to talk me out of it, but at the end of the day, I needed to prove something to him and to myself."

Iris smirked thinking how similar their situations were. "I know what you mean. Francine always has some opinion on how I should be living my life. When I said that journalism was a backup plan, that was only a half truth. Journalism was my first love. If I had my choice, that's what I would have done. But...I wanted to please my mother, so becoming a doctor it was. There was no way that I couldn't be as 'successful' as she was. There was no way a poor black woman from Georgia who worked her way up from nothing to become partner at one of the most successful law firms in the mid-west would dare have a daughter who worked for a newspaper."

Barry was a bit surprised. He didn't really know much about Iris' personal life. He liked that she felt like she could open up to him. "You're really easy to talk to Barry, thanks."

He got a bit red in the ears. "Yeah...you too."

"Hey, I got an idea," Iris grabbed Barry's hand and stood up. "C'mon." He didn't know what to think, her hand felt really nice in his. He was amazed at how soft her skin was, like feathers, but she had a tight grip on his hand, like she was holding on for dear life. He couldn't lie. He liked it.

Barry definitely thought she was pretty. Well, more than just pretty, but absolutely gorgeous. He couldn't believe he didn't notice it at first. It wasn't until they were paired up on the day that they met. He didn't see it until they were in the cafeteria. The way she looked at him bashfully, with her big brown doe eyes when he wiped the whipped cream from her nose, he was smitten. He knew that Iris was way out of his league, he wasn't even going to try to date her. But he did want to be her friend, and they were off to a good start with that.

She led him to the back stairwell and down the steps. "Iris where are we going?"

"You'll see." They turned down several hallways until they reached their destination. It was then that he realized she was still holding his hand. He felt a sense of coldness come over him when she dropped it.

"The morgue?" Barry asked quizzically.

"What? I've never been down here and it's the middle of the night in a creepy quiet hospital. C'mon, I'll be quick, I promise." Iris flashed him those puppy dog eyes and poked her lip out. He was powerless to deny any request that she had.      

"Fine."

She clapped her hands in excitement and made her way through the doors. Barry was right behind her. There wasn't anyone else in the room. Iris started walking around, examining all the tools. "I wanted to do a rotation here in med school, but if you can believe it, the waiting list was too long. I guess that's what happens when you grow up watching CSI and Law and Order."

"Iris, I hate to break it to you, but those shows are really inaccurate. It's actually really hard to watch if you know anything about science."

"Hey, we didn't watch those shows for education, we watched them for entertainment." Iris made her way closer to where the bodies were stored. "I haven't seen a dead body in a while."

"You are really morbid, you know that right?" Barry moved closer to her.

Iris shrugged, "I guess I am." Before she was able to get the door open on one of the refrigeration units, they both got paged.

"Saved by the bell." Barry exclaimed. He really did not want to see a dead body.

"Next time Allen, next time."

They made their way back to the ER. "We got multiple traumas coming in. There was a big accident on Highway 85. ETA is 15 minutes. Let's make sure we have the trauma rooms ready and get someone from surgery down here now. Here we go people, this is about to get fun," Cecile directed everyone.

Fun wouldn't have been the word to describe the rest of the night. It was a terrible accident. There was a four car pile up and a motorcycle was pinned between two of the cars. As if god was playing a sick joke on her, Iris got to see a dead body that night. One of the traumas came in DOA. They didn't even have an opportunity to try to save him.

She couldn't dwell upon the sight before her because there were people that they could save. Once she pulled herself together, she moved on to the next patient. She went into the trauma room next door. There she found Caitlin trying to tube a young woman with some difficulty. She was relieved to see Iris and motioned for her to assist. Iris put on clean gloves and got to work successfully getting the tube down her throat with ease.

"Thank you." Caitlin mouthed to Iris.

Iris gave her a wink and they continued to work on the patient together until the surgical resident showed up ready to take her up to the OR. With all of the traumas taken care of, they all tended to the other patients with injuries that weren't life threatening. Putting casts on broken bones, stitching people up, cleaning wounds. It made the rest of the shift fly by and before they all knew it, it was 7 am and the next shift was arriving.

Barry was in the lounge, getting his stuff from his locker about to head home when he heard a voice. "That ended up being a crazy night, didn't it?" He turned around to see Iris walking up to her locker, which just happened to be next to his.

"Yeah, one for the ages...so far at least," he answered her back.

"Hey me and Cait were going to grab some breakfast at the diner down the street, did you want to join us?"

Barry's eyes lit up, anytime he would get to spend with Iris, he was going to take it. "Yeah, I'd like that." The three of them met up at the entrance and walked together to the diner.

Like always Iris didn't even try to hide her shame. She ordered an omelet, pancakes, bacon and grits. Caitlin and Barry were both impressed with the amount of food she could eat in such a short period of time.

"How can you eat all of that and still have that amazing body?" Caitlin finally asked her after staring for some time.

"I dunno, good genes I guess. And what are you talking about, you have an amazing body yourself."

"Trust me, it's hard work, I go to spin class four times a week."

"How do you find time for that?" Iris asked.

"I don't sleep." Both the girls laughed. Barry looked on a bit embarrassed at the turn of conversation.

Iris must have picked up on it because she changed the subject. "Okay, I got to ask, what did you guys get on your MCATs?"

"No way Iris, I'm not going there. Cisco has already tried to get it out of me."

"Oh C'mon Cait, I will tell you mine if you tell me yours."

Caitlin just shook her head. "Nope."

Iris looked towards their other companion, "Barry?"

"If Caitlin isn't talking, neither am I."

Iris sat back against her seat and folded her arms, "You guys are no fun." The rest of the breakfast went off without a hitch. Barry insisted that he pay. Him and Iris argued about it back and forth because she ate most of what the bill was, but in the end, Barry won out.

When the bill was paid, the three of them reconvened outside of the diner. Caitlin said her goodbyes and headed towards the train. Iris didn't live too far so she was going to walk. Barry offered her a ride, but she declined. "I have to keep this amazing body somehow." she told him.

Barry wanted to find any reason to keep hanging out with her, but he was exhausted and knew he needed to get some sleep. He figured Iris was feeling the same way. As he watched her walk away he called for her attention.

"Iris!" she turned around, "I got a 518."

"Very impressive Allen. I'll see you around." She lingered facing him for a moment, then turned back around towards her apartment. She was glad he didn't see the huge smile she had on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to my wonderful beta bwhams
> 
> Enjoy  
> xx

"Mr. Wilson, Mr. Wilson, please calm down." Iris pleaded with a very upset patient. She was struggling to get him to settle down. He looked and smelled like he had been drinking all day and it was only 11:30 in the morning. She and two nurses were trying to subdue him. He had been in a car accident. There was no doubt in Iris' mind that he was going to get a DUI, but she had to get him to calm down first, so she could treat his wounds and get a blood sample for the police.

"Get off me bitch!" he yelled and pushed Iris back hard enough for her to land on the floor. There was an officer that was posted outside the door who rushed in when he heard the man screaming and helped subdue him. Once the patient was cuffed to the bed, he turned to Iris to help her off of the ground.

"You okay Doc?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at the man lying on the bed, "I can't wait to get his blood." She walked out of the room with the officer hot on her trail.

"I'm Eddie by the way, Eddie Thawne."

"Dr. Iris West."

"Well, Dr. West, it's nice to meet you. You handled yourself okay in there, ever think about joining the force."

"My father would have never allowed it. He's a detective...at CCPD...maybe you know him? Joe West?" she was hoping he would take the hint. She was working right now, and as cute as this Eddie Thawne was, this wasn't the time nor the place for flirting.

"Joe West is your father? Yeah, I've talked to him a few times before. He never mentioned having such a beautiful daughter."

Iris was flattered, but didn't let on. "Thank you Officer Thawne. If you would excuse me, I need to get that blood for you, I know you’re a busy man and I need to let you on your way." She gave him a smirk and walked away towards the suspect. She didn't need to turn around to know that he watched her walk away, probably with a smirk on his face too.

She was working the mid shift that day, she had only been at work for about an hour before she had her encounter with the young officer. She started thinking about what Linda said about having some fun. She made a mental note that Eddie could possibly be someone she could have some fun with. She had to put those thoughts to the side though because the emergency room was full of patients.  
Iris had never seen so many people in the ER before. They were already down an exam room due to a maintenance issue. It got so bad that Dr. Wells decided to open up a triage in the lobby. Iris and Cisco drew the short straws and were sent out to brave the cruel abyss known as the ER waiting room. They both stepped into the lobby together, looked at each other, took deep breaths and got to work.

They set up a system. They would evaluate someone and order them by priority. They each had a nurse so anyone who could be patched up in the waiting room was treated and discharged. Catch and release Cisco named it. It took about 3 hours, but they had finally cleared most of the waiting room. All of the chairs were still full, but nobody was standing anymore.

Dr. Wells came out to check on their progress and was very impressed. "You two have earned a break, why don't you head over to Jitters and get a coffee, I'll page you if we need you back."

Both Cisco and Iris looked like they won the lotto. Neither of them needed to be told twice. They didn't even grab their jackets, they just ran out of the emergency room doors, giggling like children. You would never know these people where in their late 20's.

When they made it to Jitters, Cisco went to the counter to order their drinks while Iris found a table for them to sit at. The place was pretty crowded as it was a Saturday, but Iris spotted a couple leaving and made a beeline for the table before someone else could claim it. Cisco finally arrived with their drinks and they both sat back to enjoy a nice break.

"So you couldn't get it out of Cait either? he asked her, taking a sip of his Flash latte.

"No, I gave her the puppy pout and everything."

"Iris, you know that doesn't work right?"

"It worked on you the night I needed coffee and didn't have any."

"Okay, that was one time. Never happened again."

Iris looked at Cisco disbelievingly. They both knew it worked on him all the time. They both started laughing. It must have been loud, because it drew the attention of someone who headed over towards the table.

"Dr. West, good to see you again."

Iris turned towards the voice, "Officer."

"I just got off shift, you just getting off too?"

"No, we are only half way through our shift, just taking a coffee break."

"I see. Well I was wondering if maybe you would like to get dinner with me sometime." Iris averted her eyes from Eddie. He was cute, but she wasn't really interested in dating anyone right now. She glanced up at Cisco who was giving her one of those, 'what's all this here' looks. Iris was happy when her pager went off.

"I'm sorry," she explained as she started to get up from the table, "Work is calling, we gotta go. It was nice seeing you again Eddie." Cisco and Iris made towards the exit.

"No worries, just promise me you'll think about dinner."

"Yeah," she said as she pushed open the door. Once they were outside, Iris tried to make a run for the hospital to avoid any commentary from Cisco. To his credit, he only said, "Maybe going out on a date wouldn't be so bad."

Later on that day, Iris was sitting in the lounge, reading the latest medical journal. She only had a few hours left on her shift. She had one remaining patient who she was waiting on labs for to determine if he needed to be admitted or if she could give him some meds and discharge him.

"Hey Iris." she looked up from her reading material to see Barry standing in front of her.

"Hey Barry, just getting in?"

"Yeah, I have an overnighter tonight."

"Well, there is supposed to be a full moon tonight. I am hoping to get out of here before it get crazy again in here."

Barry chuckled, "When is it not crazy in here?"

"Touche"

Barry placed his belongings in his locker and put on his white coat. He walked over to where Iris was and sat next to her. "What are you reading?"

"This article about treating the new flu superbug. The information is solid, but the delivery is about to put me to sleep."

"Yeah, some of those articles could be written better," he paused for a second, "Why don't you try to get something published?"

"Me? I dunno."

"C'mon Iris, you said it yourself, writing was your first love, and with your knowledge of medicine, I am sure you would write something great. I believe in you."

She looked up into his eyes. Something about the way he said it. She knew he meant it. She started to feel a little bit shy in the moment. "Thanks Barry."

Just then, Dr. Henry Allen came into the lounge, apparently looking for Barry. "Son we need to talk...Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in here with someone."

Iris stood up and walked over to Henry, "Dr. Allen, I'm Dr. Iris West, it is an honor to meet you in person."

"Ah, Dr. West, Barry had told me some great things about you." Iris glanced over at Barry who by this point was red as a tomato. He definitely didn't need iris to know he talked about her outside of this building.

"Thank you Dr. Allen. I need to check on my patient." she turned to Barry who still looked mortified, "See you later Barry."

Once Iris was gone, Barry turned to his father, "Really dad?"

"She seems nice and there is no rule against you being able to date her."

"Dad!"

"Okay, okay, look, that isn't what I came here to talk about."

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Barry, I think it is great that you want to go to a third world country and practice medicine for a while, but the next quarter there will be an opening in the surgical residence program and I really think-"

"Dad, we have already discussed this, I don't want to be a surgeon."

"Barry, I just think you are too smart and did too well in med school to let this opportunity slip away. I mean it's great that you want to help people, that's what being a doctor is all about, I just think you could do more with it."

"Thanks again Dad, for your unsolicited opinion. I have patients I need to get to." Barry started towards the door when his dad stopped him.

"Barr, just think about it some more, please."

"Whatever dad," and Barry walked out of the room.

Barry had made the decision a few weeks ago to join doctors without borders when this rotation was over. He felt like he needed to get out of Central City for a while. Being under the shadow of his well known and successful father was becoming too much to bear. He was tired of the comparisons and the hushed whispers behind his back on whether or not he could live up to his legacy.

His mother Nora was so different. She was a free spirit. Barry actually couldn't believe his uptight dad ended up with his hippie mother. He was always suits and ties where she was barefoot and free. I guess it's true when they say opposites attract. But he knew his father was deeply in love with his mother, and she with him. If there was anything Barry wanted to emulate from his father was what he shared with the love of his life. Barry was a sucker for romance.

If it wasn't for Nora, Barry probably would have dropped out of med school. Not because he couldn't cut it, but because he wanted to defy his father. He and his dad had gotten into yet another argument that night about his future. When Henry said he wouldn't pay for school unless he did what he wanted that was the final nail in the coffin. Barry stormed out of the house that night in a rage.

His mother found him an hour later sitting on a bench at the waterfront. It was his favorite spot in the city. Since he was a teenager, he would come here when he was stressed out, or sad or angry. It always seemed to calm him and help him put his thoughts into perspective.

It was the dead of winter and Barry had stormed out without a coat on. When Nora approached him, she draped a blanket around his shoulders and sat down next to him. "You know, when your father found out I was pregnant, he was the happiest I had ever seen him."

Barry looked over at his mother and she continued, "He was scared, but he was so happy. At the time, we were living in this little apartment on the outskirts of the city. Your father was still doing his residency, which back then, wasn't really paying a lot. I had my art, but that was more of a hobby, not a real way to earn a living. He would stay up late at night, worrying about giving you the best life possible. He does want you to be happy Barry, but he also wants you to be all that you can be."

"I know mom, but I don't want to be him. I want to be me."

"Do you like medicine?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to be a doctor?"

Barry paused before he answered. His life long dream was to become a scientist, but since he has been in med school and has had the opportunity to interact with real life people, he's come to find that maybe medicine was his calling. He liked saving people, he just didn't want to be a surgeon. "Yeah, yeah mom I do."

Nora took his hand in hers, "Then don't let your father deter you from doing what you want to do. Be happy Barry, that's what your mom wants you to do. And trust me, your father would rather lock you up in the basement for the rest of your life than be the reason why you wouldn't make it through med school. I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to pay for it."

"Thanks mom, I love you." Barry leaned down to put his head on his mother's shoulder and tucked into her warm embrace. They sat like that for a while before it got too cold for the both of them.

Barry was on shift with Caitlin and Scott that evening. When Iris said prepare for it to get crazy that night, she wasn't lying. They had a steady flow of patients the whole evening. Even Scott was frazzled and that almost never happened. Caitlin, as always, was the epitome of perfection. She never let anyone see her sweat. That's why Barry was surprised to find her having an anxiety attack in the locker room hallway.

"Cait you okay?" he asked her. She couldn't speak, she just shook her head. Barry understood, he used to get panic attacks in high school. He quietly sat down on the floor next to her and held her hand in silence. After a while, she had finally calmed down.

"Thanks Barry." she finally said.

"I'm always here for you if you need to talk Cait. We are friends right?"

She smiled up at him, "We are."

"I know it's like 7 in the morning and you probably want nothing more than to go home and get some sleep, but how about some ice cream?" Barry offered.

"Really Barry, ice cream?" she looked at him with amusement, "You know what, let's do it, let's go get some ice cream." Barry helped Caitlin off the floor and they headed out to the diner around the corner.

They were seated in the booth, Barry enjoying his chocolate ice cream and Caitlin her strawberry. She finally asked him, "So Barry, are you seeing anybody?"

Barry got a bit nervous, he wasn't sure where this was going. "Don't worry, I'm not asking you out. I met this guy, and I think I might love him. I'm really happy right now and I just want everyone else to be as happy as I am."

He visibly relaxed. "No, I'm not really dating right now." That wasn't necessarily by choice. There was only one person he really wanted to even think about dating, but there would be no way she would feel the same. He wondered if he could trust Caitlin with his secret. "There is this girl though."

Caitlin perked up, making sure she was giving her full attention. Barry continued, "She's smart, really funny, absolutely gorgeous. I always feel better when I am around her."

"So, why haven't you asked her out?"

"It would...complicate things. I mean, we are friends, I wouldn't want to mess it up. Plus she is like waaaaaaay out of my league."

"Don't sell yourself short Barry, you are a great guy, she would be a fool not to see it."

"Thanks Cait. I'm just happy to have her in my life, anyway I can get it."

Barry headed back to the hospital parking lot to get his car and head home. He was cruising down the street, jamming out to his favorite 2000's playlist when he saw a disabled vehicle on the side of the road. When he took a closer look, he recognized the stranded driver and pulled over to help.

"What happened here?"

"Barry!" Patty turned around, happy to see someone she knew. "Oh my god, I dunno what happened, I was just driving along fine on my way to the hospital and all of a sudden smoke started coming out of the hood."

Barry came closer and asked Patty to pop the hood. Once the smoke cleared, Barry took a closer look. "To be honest, I don't know anything about cars, but, when was the last time you had an oil change?"

"Oil change?" she asked. It wasn't in a way that would indicate she didn't know what that was, more in the way of, when would I have time for an oil change. Barry took pity on her.

"C'mon, I will give you a lift to work and you can call AAA to come pick up the car later." Barry motioned for her to get in his car.

"Thanks Barry."

The ride to the hospital was a short one, but Patty was making the most of their time together. She was really chatty. This was probably the most he had ever heard her talk. He pulled up to the loading area to let her out.

"Thanks again Barry. You have to let me treat you to cup of coffee as pay back."

"That's not necessary."

"I insist." She reached over and gave him a quick hug before hopping out of the car and into the hospital. Barry soon regretted his generosity because no sooner had he looked away from where Patty was going into the building, he saw Iris right behind her, looking at Barry with a solemn look. She didn't wave or anything, just walked into the building. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta bwhams!
> 
> Enjoy  
> xx

Iris was in a good mood going to work that morning. She felt well rested and found out that Jitters started selling cronuts. She was walking up towards the hospital to start her day when she noticed Barry's car in the loading area. She was happy to see him because she had given the whole medical journal thing some thought and wanted his opinion on some topic ideas. She wasn't prepared to see Patty hugging him and getting out of his car.

"Are they dating now?" she thought to herself. She wasn't sure why the sight was affecting her. I mean, her and Barry were just friends and he could date whoever he wanted. That didn't negate the fact that every time she saw him, her heart fluttered a little bit. Or no matter how bad of a day she was having, something about his smile always made her feel better.

She finally realized she was staring at him and shook off her dejected feelings walking in the building with a laser focus. She took the disappointed look off of her face and put on a smile as she walked into the lounge. Of course Patty had to be in there. Iris hurried to her locker, trying to avoid any contact. Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky.

"Good Morning Iris, Ready for today?" Patty was perky and pleasant as usual.

"Yeah, it's going to be a good day."

"That's a great mantra, I should start using that. Especially after the morning I had."

Iris didn't want to hear about her morning, that conversation may lead to what she did last night. If her getting out of Barry's car this morning was any indication, Iris was not interested. She put on her white coat and politely excused herself.

"Well, I gotta go get ready for rounds," and she left the lounge, grateful for the escape.

Iris was glad that Caitlin was on with her today, she didn't think she could take not having an ally with her on shift today. Caitlin must have noticed that there was something going on with her. She walked up to Iris while she was reviewing the patient charts before rounds started.

"Everything okay Iris?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she paused for a second, "Are Barry and Patty dating?" she asked her.

Caitlin was surprised by the question. "Why would you think that?"

"I saw him drop her off this morning. They seemed....cozy."

Caitlin thought back to the conversation they had the other day. Maybe Barry finally worked up the nerve to ask out the girl he liked. Iris noticed the look of pride that Caitlin had on her face.

"What Cait?"

"It's just, well, the other day he may have mentioned being into someone, I just didn't think he had the guts to actually do something about it."

"He said he was into Patty?"

"No, he never said who. But if you are saying they looked cozy, I'm going to assume that is who he was talking about."

Iris was deflated. She had thought that sometimes when they were looking into each other’s eyes that there was something there. Maybe she misread it. Maybe Barry was just a really nice guy. They were friends after all. She shrugged it off and focused back on the task at hand. She had rounds to get to.

The shift seemed to move slowly. It was still really busy, but Iris didn't have that same spunk that she normally did. She was sitting at the desk in the middle of the ER when one of the nurses came up to her.

"Hey, the guy in 6 specifically asked for you."

"What?" she asked confused.

"The guy in 6, he asked if he could be treated by Dr. West."

"Okay, I'm on my way." Iris finished up what she was working on and went to room 6 to find out what was going on. She was taken back when she pulled the curtain to see Eddie sitting there.

"Real smooth," she said to him, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, this is a real medical emergency, and I only wanted the best."

She smiled at him, "So tell me what happened to you Mr. Thawne."

He smiled back, "Well, I was chasing down a very dangerous suspect, we got into a little scuffle on the ground and well..." he lifted up his pant leg to show her a gruesome cut running from his knee down to his shin."

"Jeez Eddie!" she exclaimed. She didn't mean to, but it seemed to stroke his ego.

"You should see the other guy."

She shook her head at him and moved over to the supply cart to get set up to clean the wound. Once she was ready, she sat on the stool next to him and began to clean his leg with saline. "You are definitely going to need stitches."

"Well at least I am in good hands."

Iris completed getting everything cleaned up. She was able to quickly get through stitching him up. She had Barry to thank for that. He had showed her that technique the first day they met. The sound of Eddie's voice broke her thoughts of Barry.

"Thanks for patching me up Doc, you did a bang up job."

"You're welcome, just try to be more careful out there will ya."

"I'll try my best. Hey, why don't you let me take you out to dinner to say thank you?"

Normally Iris would have promptly turned him down, but due to the circumstances of the day, she decided to take him up on his offer.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I'm off tomorrow night, pick me up at the hospital at 7."

"Wow, yeah sure, I'll be here." Eddie couldn't believe she said yes.

Iris was supposed to have dinner with her parents when she got off. She left the hospital and headed straight to the house she grew up in. She didn't bother trying to shower or change before she got there. That would just give her an excuse to leave early if her mother started to irritate her, which there was a 99.9% chance of that happening.

When she arrived at the house, she was relieved to see her father’s face when she opened the door. As a child, she would love the days when she would get home from school and the first thing she saw was her dad, welcoming her home. She was such a daddy's girl.

She walked in and immediately greeting him with a hug. "Hey baby girl."

"Hi daddy."

"You must have had a rough day."

"No, I just missed you." Joe took the hint and hugged his daughter harder. Just as Iris was relishing in the comfort of her father's arms, her mother came in from around the corner.

"Iris honey, so glad you made it." Iris rolled her eyes. Everything her mother said to her always had something underhanded behind it.

"Mother." She did go over and give her a short hug. Francine gave her a once over.

"I see you haven't been using the face cream I bought you."

Iris was already ready to leave. Lucky for her, her brother walked in the door, not a moment too soon. Her mother almost knocked her over trying to get to Wally. Iris rolled her eyes and headed into the kitchen in search of a bottle of wine and the biggest glass she could find.

She found an open bottle of Pinot in the wine fridge and grabbed a tumbler from the cabinet. Before she had a chance to pour it, Wally appeared in the archway. "What, are you still in undergrad sis?" he pointed to the way too large plastic cup she had chosen to drink her wine from.

She scoffed and went back to the cabinet and took down a reasonable sized wine glass. "She started already huh?" He asked her.

"Every time, I just want to get this dinner over with and go to bed."

"How has the hospital been treating you?"

"Great, I love it."

"That didn't sound very believable."

Iris gave her brother a small smile, "I really do love it, I just had a rough day is all."

"Well, it's probably about to get rougher."

"What do you mean Wall?"

"I am telling mom and dad tonight that I got into Stanford Law School."

"NO WAY!!" Iris shouted, then quickly covered her mouth. She whispered to Wally, "When did you find out? I am so proud of you." She gave her brother a tight hug.

"I got the acceptance letter this morning, but..."

"There is a but?"

"I'm not going."

"What do you mean you’re not going?"

"I met someone."

"What do you mean you met someone?"

"Iris, I met this girl and I am in love with her. She is moving to Japan to study the language, and I am going with her."

Iris burst out laughing. She thought it was some joke that Wally was playing on her. When she realized that he was being serious, she got serious too. "Wait, so you are just going pass on one of the best law schools in the country to follow a girl, who you just met, to a country that speaks a language you don't know, and you’re going to tell mom this tonight?"

"Yep." Iris topped her wine glass off, she all of a sudden didn't have that same strong desire to leave anymore.

The next day, she walked into work with Cisco. They had met up at Jitters and grabbed coffee for the team.

"You should have seen the look on her face Cisco. Let's just say everyone was glad there was a doctor in the house. Apparently she hasn't spoken a word to anyone since Wally told her."

"So you brother is really going to do this?"

"He says he is. He can always just defer his admission if he wants to come back. I'm actually jealous that he has the balls to stand up and do whatever he wants with his life. It's quiet admirable."

They reached the ER desk and started to hand out the coffees. Barry was working the same shift, and even though Iris was disappointed at the Patty revelation, she was still happy to see him. She handed him his coffee and he flashed his distinct smile. "Thank you Dr."

"You're Welcome Dr." she giggled back at him.

"Hey so Iris, the old theater downtown is having a 'Night of the Living Dead' movie marathon tonight, I figured you might want to go since you like morbid stuff." he suggested to her.

Her heart sank a little bit. She imagined going on a movie date with Barry, but she knew he was just asking as a friend. As much as she wanted to say yes, she had that date with Eddie.

"Thanks for the invite, but I actually have a date tonight. Maybe another time?"

Barry felt crushed inside, knowing that Iris was going to be seeing someone else. Maybe he should have tried to make a move sooner. He made sure to keep the same happy expression on his face. "Oh." he said stupidly.

"Well, I'll see you guys at rounds." she headed towards the lounge to put her things away.

"I'm in."

Barry's concentration was broken, "Huh?"

Cisco repeated it, "I'm in. I love me some George Romero."

"Yeah," Barry cleared his throat, "Yeah, cool. Um, we'll head over after our shift."

"It's a date," Cisco said as he walked away. Barry wasn't sure what to think.

Barry was just trying to get through his work day. He was spending all his time sulking about Iris going out on a date. He was actually relieved when a trauma came in, thinking it would get his mind off of it. That relief went away when he realized that Iris was going to be working on the patient with him. He had been trying to avoid her all day, as to not give himself away. Once the patient was moved upstairs, he made himself scarce again.

Iris noticed that Barry had been distant ever since she mentioned her date. A part of her thought maybe it was because of her, but she pushed that from her mind. He was with Patty, he didn't care if she was going out with someone.

She had finally discharged her last patient with enough time to get ready for her date. She had brought her clothes with her and planned on showering at the hospital. She had forgotten to pack her flat iron, so she was going to have to rock her natural curls tonight.

She was at her locker in the lounge after she had gotten dressed. Iris had chosen to wear a strappy blue dress that stopped mid thigh. Even though her feet were killing her, she went with a pair of black peep toe heels. She was putting on her jewelry when Barry walked in the room.

He had to pick his jaw off of the floor when he saw her. He had only ever seen her in her medical gear. He had no idea she was capable of looking as good as she did right now. He led his gaze to her feet and slowly worked his way up her body, taking in her legs. Considering how short she was, her legs seemed to go on forever. He also relished her perfect mocha colored skin.

He noticed that she was wearing red lipstick and her hair was curly and not in her normal messy bun, another first for him. He didn't realize he had been staring at her until she called out his name.

"Barry? You okay?"

"Yeah...you um, you look really nice."

"Thanks." she felt her cheeks get hot. She shook off the feeling and went back to putting her earrings on.

"Your, your hair, it's different." he finally spoke again.

She turned and smiled at him, "I didn't have a chance to straighten it."

"No, I mean, I like it." he blushed.

Her smiled got wider. She grabbed her necklace. Barry could tell she was having a hard time getting it to clasp. "Here let me help you." He took the necklace from her. She turned her back to him and moved her hair out of the way. When it wafted past Barry's nose, he could smell her coconut shampoo and was intoxicated by it.

His fingers grazed her neck line as he moved to place the jewelry around it. Goosebumps took over her body at his touch. He finally clasped the necklace. He allowed his fingers to linger on her, enjoying the feel of her skin.

She finally turned around to face him. They were standing so close that if she was tall enough, she would have felt his warm breath on her face. She looked up into his eyes. "Thank you," she whispered. Barry found some confidence and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. All he had to do was lean down and kiss her, and she wouldn't have stopped him. She wanted it, and the look in his eyes said he wanted it too.

Before anything else could be said, Cisco burst into the room. "I'm ready for some zombies."

Barry and Iris broke apart quickly, looking like two kids who had just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Iris grabbed her purse out of her locker and shut it. "I'll see you guys later." Iris said embarrassed and speed walked out of the room to go meet Eddie.

Dumbfounded, Barry stood there for a second. "What was that all about?" Cisco asked curiously.

"Uh, nothing," Barry shook his head, "Let me just grab my coat and we can go."

George Romero turned out to be a pretty popular guy because the line at the theater was almost wrapped around the block. Barry and Cisco were about half way back from the front of the line, waiting to purchase their tickets.

"So what's the deal with you and Iris?" Cisco asked him.

"You really are subtle aren't you?"

"Life is too short to not say whatever you're thinking. So..."

"Nothing, we are just friends."

"Really?" he looked at him skeptically, "Just friends? It didn't look like two people who were just friends in the lounge earlier."

Barry rubbed the back of his neck, "That wasn't anything, I just helped her with her necklace."

"Right, so that's why you asked her out on a date to the movies?"

"It wasn't meant to be a date, like I said, we are just friends."

"Barry, I know you like Iris, it's okay."

"Is it that obvious?"

"I just have an eye for these kinds of things. So you do like her?"

Barry couldn't deny it anymore, "Yeah I like her, I really like her."

"I've seen the guy she is going out with tonight, I wouldn't be too worried."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Iris might not see it yet, but he isn't her type. Trust me."

Barry wasn't able to even enjoy the movie, he couldn't stop thinking about what Cisco had said to him. Maybe he still had a chance with her. They did have a moment earlier that evening, he was sure he didn't imagine it. He had hoped that this date of hers didn't make a great impression. He resolved to ask Iris out for real the next time he saw her. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my wonderful beta bwhams.
> 
> Enjoy xx

Cisco bursting into the room startled her. She quickly broke apart from Barry. Not daring to look into his eyes again. Iris hastily grabbed her purse from her locker and with a fast pace, made her way towards the door. "I'll see you guys later." Once she made it into the hallway and around the corner, she stopped and leaned her back against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

They had a moment. It was unmistakable to her now. There was this electricity she felt between the two of them. She knew for sure she would have kissed him if Cisco hadn't barged in. Even knowing she was supposed to be going out with someone else, it wouldn't have stopped her.

That's right, she was remembering that she had a date. She had no choice but to go now. She pulled herself together and headed to the lobby where she was supposed to meet Eddie. He was already waiting for her when she got there. Iris was actually surprised to see him in a suit. It was a good look for him.

"Hi," she greeted as she walked up to him.

"Wow Iris, you look...great."

"Thanks, Eddie. You clean up nice."

"Just trying to make a good impression."

"Well, you are off to a good start. So, where are we going?"

"I got us a reservation at the new Italian place that just opened near the waterfront."

"Impressive, I heard it was hard to get a reservation there."

"Let's just say, I know people." Iris rolled her eyes. He chuckled and held out his arm for her to slip hers through, "Shall we?"

Eddie led Iris to his car. She wasn't surprised to see that he drove a BMW. He seemed like the type. He opened the door for her and watched her as she got in. The car ride was fairly quiet. Iris' mind was still on Barry. She talked herself out of thinking about him for the rest of the night. Eddie deserved to have her full attention.

"So Eddie, what kind of music do you like?"

"Country is my absolute favorite. I can't get enough of Toby Keith."

Iris nodded. Eddie must have taken that to mean that she liked it too because next thing she knew, it was blasting from the speakers. Iris internally groaned, she hated country music. She was glad when the waterfront came into view. It meant she wouldn't have to listen to it anymore.

Dinner wasn't that much better. When they arrived at the restaurant, Eddie slid the hostess a $50 bill and asked for a good table. He turned to Iris and wiggled his eyebrows like that was supposed to impress her or something. He must have forgotten her father was a cop, she knew how much they made. She was already regretting agreeing to this date.

At the table, Iris thought they may be able to at least have good conversation. But Eddie spent the entire night talking about himself. At one point, Iris hadn't uttered a word in 20 minutes. He kept a tally of his arrests on an app on his phone. He had no humility at all. When their waiter came to ask if they wanted dessert, Iris was quick with a no before Eddie could answer.

When they got to her apartment, she wanted to just hop out of the car and pretend that the date never happened. She was annoyed that her first date in over a year turned out like this. "Well, Eddie, thank you for dinner."

"Let me walk you up."

Iris hoped that she just thought about the eye roll and didn't actually do it. "It's fine Eddie, I'll be okay."

"I insist." He was already turning off his car. Iris reluctantly agreed to let him walk her to her door. Once in front of it, Iris went straight for the lock, she already had her keys out. She didn't want to delay getting through that front door.

"I had a great time tonight," he said to her as he inched closer. He clearly was trying to go in for a kiss. He closed his eyes and leaned in. His mouth wasn't open, but Iris could smell the garlic on his breath already. This was definitely not happening. She moved her head just in time for his lips to land on her cheek.

"Thanks again Eddie. Goodnight." she opened her front door and walked into her apartment, not bothering to even look back. She shut the door and kicked off her heels. She walked into the kitchen and headed straight to the fridge for a beer. Linda walked in as Iris was about half way done chugging it.

"Your date was that bad huh?"

Iris scoffed, "Bad would be an understatement. I mean, the ego on this guy."

"Oh," Linda said like she completely understood, "One of those."

"Yeah, I just want to take a shower to wash the sleaze off of me and go to bed." Iris finished the rest of her beer, said goodnight to Linda and headed to her room. She dropped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't believe she missed hanging out with Barry to go out with Eddie. She was kicking herself.

She looked at the clock, it was barely 10:30. Barry did say it was a movie marathon. For just a second, Iris considered showing up to the movies. Then she realized how crazy that would make her look. She decided to stick with her original plan and took a shower and got in bed. She turned on Netflix and watched until she drifted off to sleep.

Iris didn't see Barry again for a few days after she had her date. She finally ran into him at Jitters. He had just finished an overnight, and she was on day shift. The moment that they had wasn't brought up, but she knew that she was looking at him differently. "Hey, I'm sorry that I couldn't go to the theater the other night."

"It's okay, Cisco and I had fun."

"Yeah, he is a pretty good date." Iris did not know why she just said that. "I mean, he's fun to hang out with."

"Right."

"Anyways, to make up for not being able to go, I thought you might want to hang out with me at the science museum this Sunday. I came into some tickets and they have this special limited time NASA exhibit, and I know you like that kind of stuff."

Barry was silent for a moment, he wasn't sure if she was asking him out on a date or not. He was taking too long to answer and Iris must have been worried that he didn't want to go out with her, because she followed it up with, "I mean as friends you know."

That disappointed him, but he didn't let it show. "Yeah, it sounds like fun."

"Okay, well how about we meet at the museum at 2pm?"

"I'll be there," he answered with a smile.

The barista called her name and she grabbed her coffee and headed towards the door. "See ya Barr."

"Later gator," Barry instantly regretted being so corny. Iris like it though. She chuckled and waved at him before she walked out.

She was on cloud nine the rest of her shift. Cisco caught her on a few occasions humming to herself. Finally he had to ask her, "I take it your date went well the way your floating around here today."

Iris looked up from the microscope she was using to analyze some samples. "Actually, the date was..."

"Great?" Cisco offered.

"...probably one of the worst dates I have ever been on. Eddie is definitely not my type."

"Yeah, I know."

Iris looked at him incredulously, "What do you mean you know?"

"I am Cisco Lannister, I drink and I know things."

"Oh, so are you fighting for the throne too?" Cisco shrugged. Iris added, "Just remember, you're the one who encouraged me to go on a date with him."

"Hey I encouraged you to go on a date, I never said with that guy."

"Oh, and you have someone in mind?"

"Maybe, but a magician never reveals their secrets." Cisco waived his hands in front of his face and left to go check on a patient. Iris just shook her head and laughed to herself. Going back to her work.  
Sunday came and both Barry and Iris were excited to hang out with each other. Iris had debated all morning on what to wear. She finally settled on some high waisted skinny jeans with a cropped top and some converse. She decided to go with the curly hair again, since Barry seemed to like it. He had only seen it that one time. And she went with a natural look on the make up, figuring it wasn't a date, just two friends hanging out. She grabbed her leather jacket on her way out of the door too, just in case.

When she got to the museum, she was surprised to see that Barry was already there. "Wow, I can't believe you're early."

"You're worth being on time for." His response caught her off guard. She started to get butterflies in her stomach.

She smiled at him, "Ready to go in?" Barry held his arm out and she slipped hers through it. "Let's go."

They were fortunate that the museum wasn't that crowded. They were able to walk around and really spend time at all the exhibits. Iris was good at the bio sciences, but Barry had to explain a lot of the physics stuff. Iris was in awe of how smart he really was. She was smart too, but Barry, he was brilliant and acted like he didn't even know it.

He was all too excited to get to the NASA exhibit. There was a movie to start it off that lasted about 10 minutes. They then went through a set of doors that lead them to a 'replica of space'. It was absolutely breathtaking. Barry was giddy, pointing out the planets and explaining their existence.

They both were bummed out when the museum made the announcement that they would be closing in 15 minutes. Neither one of them were ready to go home. They walked into the parking lot. Barry wasn't sure which car belonged to Iris, because she always walked to work. He actually wasn't even sure if she had a car.

"So did you a need a ride or...?" Barry asked her.

She laughed at him and pointed to a candy painted muscle car, "That's me."

Barry's eyes became as wide a saucers, he walked up to the car in a hurry, "That's a 1968 Shelby GT500!"

"It is," she said as she walked over to him.

"I don't know anything about cars, but I had this exact model as a child. It was my dad's and my most prized possession. Where did you find this beauty?"

"Actually, my grandfather left it to me when he died. It was in good condition, I just got a new paint job and some new rims for it."

"This car is absolutely beautiful."

Iris pulled out the keys, "Wanna take it for a spin?"

Barry looked back at her, "I couldn't."

"C'mon Barry, live a little." He shook his head. "Fine then, I'll drive, get in."

He didn't decline that invitation. He got in the passenger seat and strapped on his seat belt. Iris noticed and snickered, "Don't worry, I won’t kill us." She slowly pulled out of the parking lot and made her way through the city. Barry had no clue where she was taking him. Next thing he knew, they were on the highway and Iris really opened it up.

She got off on an exit so quick, Barry didn't get to see where it was leading. The finally ended up on a secluded road the winded around the shoreline. He watched Iris with wonder, something about the way she handled the car and the way she drove using the stick. It was a turn on for him. Though he would never tell her that.

They finally pulled up to a parking lot that had access to the beach. Iris parked the car and turned it off. "I wanna show you something," she told him.

They both got out of the car and started walking towards the sand. She led him to a small cove off of the main beach. There were no other people there but the two of them. She went and sat down and patted the sand next to her, signaling for Barry to join her. He came and sat down close to her, their arms were almost touching.

"When I was a kid, my dad used to bring me and Wally here in the summer time. He always said it was the most beautiful place he had ever been." she looked at Barry and smiled, "I always had great memories here. When I got older, I used to come here a lot just to watch the sunset."

"Well, you have impeccable timing, because the sun is setting right now."

"That's why we came here, I wanted you to watch it with me."

Barry turned red and rubbed the back of his neck. He thought that they were hanging out as friends, but it was starting to feel like maybe it was a date. Which, he would have been fine with too.

They both turned their attentions back to the setting sun. "Did you know that the human eye can perceive only a small part of sunlight that falls in the visible wavelength?" he asked her.

Iris was captivated by him. "No, I didn't know that."

"Well there are some creatures who can see completely different colors in the sunset than we do."

"You sure do know a lot about this kind of stuff."

"Yeah, I'm kind of a nerd I guess."

She smiled and said, "An adorable nerd." Iris took his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder as they continued to watch the scene together. Once the sun was finally out of their view, Iris made another suggestion. "I guess we should go."

Barry nodded in agreement. Iris stood up and wiped the sand from her butt. She held out her hands for Barry and he grabbed them to get a help off of the ground. He lost his balance trying to get up and they both toppled over with Iris landing right on top of him.

They were so close their noses were almost touching. Even though it was dark out, Iris could see the fire burning in his eyes. She inhaled his aftershave and watched him lick his lips. She couldn't contain herself any more. She closed her eyes and leaned down closer to his face. She pressed her lips gently against his as if she was testing the waters. When she felt him put more pressure against her lips, she took that as an invitation to kiss him deeper. She licked open his lips and slowly crept her tongue in his mouth, still hesitant that he may not want this. All of her hesitation went away when she felt him move his hands to her hips, holding her softly.

The kiss became more intense when Barry started to wrap his tongue around hers, like they were wrestling for dominance. They finally broke apart, both needing air. There were no words said, they just stared into each other’s eyes for a while. Finally, Iris made the move to get up. Barry got up on his own this time. Iris took his hand and interlocked their fingers and led them back to the car.

Barry hated the fact that he had to let her hand go, but reluctantly did it so that he could get back in the car. The ride back was quiet. After not being able to deal with the loud sounds of both of their beating hearts, she turned on some music. The song playing was 'Just Friends' by musiq soulchild. Iris was hoping it wasn't an omen, because she didn't think she wanted to be just friends with Barry, she wanted more. She had no idea that he felt the same way.

Once they made it back to museum parking lot, Iris pulled up next to his car. He drove a simple Prius. He wanted to do his part to save the environment. That was another thing she admired about him. "Thank you for inviting me out today, I had a really great time," Barry said while rubbing the back of his neck. He really wanted to kiss her again, but was too nervous to try to make a move.

"I had fun too," she pushed her hair behind her ears, "We should hang out more often."

"Yeah, I'd like that." They sat silent for another moment. Finally Barry decided that he was just going to do it. He leaned over and held her face in his hands while he went in for another kiss. This kiss was less intense than the last one they shared , but they both still enjoyed it. It felt like there were lightning bolts all around them. They broke apart and looked at each other one last time.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow, Goodnight Iris."

"Goodnight Barry." He got out of the car and waited for her to pull off before doing a happy dance. He calmed himself down and left the parking lot towards his apartment.

Iris couldn't believe the day she had with Barry. They were supposed to just be hanging out as friends, but it didn't feel that way. It was actually a way better date than she had with Eddie, and it wasn't even a date.

When she got home Linda was in the living room. She noticed the big smile that was on Iris' face.

"You have the look of someone who just got laid."

"Lin! I was just hanging out with a friend."

"Right..."

Iris rolled her eyes and went into her room. She showered and got in bed. She felt like a kid the night before the first day of school. She couldn't wait to see Barry the next day. She was finally able to turn her brain off and go to sleep.

The next morning, she decided to stop by Jitters to get a coffee for her and Barry. She decided that she was going to ask him on a real date. She was about to walk into the coffee shop when she saw Barry sitting with Patty through the window. Her heart sank. They seemed cozy again. He must have been some comedian the way she was throwing her head back in laughter while stroking his arm. 

Iris started to feel physically ill and almost called out of work. She decided that she had to put her big girl panties on and face whatever was in front of her. She forgot about the coffee and headed towards the hospital instead. She knew it was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know I said I wasn't doing another series...but...I think I am going to make a part 2 to this story once it's done. I am thinking about 2 or 3 more chapters after this one. I don't know when I would get Pt. 2 started, but I feel like I have a story I would like to tell and cannot do it in just one story.
> 
> As always please feel free to leave and comments or suggestions on my tumblr @katieb161
> 
> I also started using my twitter after 3 years so you can leave things there as well @slimkatie2
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to my beta bwhams.
> 
> enjoy  
> xx

Barry watched as Iris drove out of the parking lot. He made sure she was gone before breaking out into a happy dance. He couldn't believe he kissed Iris West, twice. He was just smitten with her, but now, he was definitely falling for her. He hopped in his car and headed home. Replaying their time at the beach over and over in his head.

The next morning, he woke up earlier than normal. Part of that was his excitement to get to work to see Iris. He knew he had to ask her out, like on a real date. He was walking into Jitters to grab a coffee for Iris to say thank you for the day before. When he stepped into the line, he felt a pat on his back. He turned around to see Patty.

"Hey, Good morning Barry!" no matter what time of day it was, or what was going on, she was always perky.

"Morning Patty, you on shift today?"

"Yeah, day shift, you?"

Barry nodded, "Me too."

"Well, hey, I still owe you that coffee from the other day. Let me buy you a cup before we go to the hospital."

He really didn't want to sit and have coffee with Patty, he wanted to go to the hospital and see Iris. Patty noticed his hesitation, "C'mon Barry, we still have 25 minutes to get to work...I insist."

"Okay," he finally agreed if for nothing else to just get it over with. They ordered their coffees and then went to sit down at the table by the window.

The conversation between the two of them started out about mundane things. The weather, the happenings in the city, stuff like that. Barry was recounting a tale from one of his overnight shifts during the full moon.

"...so yeah, the guy swears that he was a bitten by a werewolf and he is screaming for us to tie him down to the bed because the change was coming."

"Did you guys tie him down?"

"We didn't need to once the sedative kicked in, he slept like a baby until psych showed up."

Patty must have thought it was funny the way she whipped her head back in laughter and stroked his arm. Barry honestly didn't think the story was that funny. When she finally stopped laughing, she looked at him, hand still on his arm. She finally just came out and asked him.

"Would you, I dunno, want to go out sometime?"

Barry wondered to himself where this was coming from. His hand shot to the back of his neck. "I'm sorry Patty, I'm sorta seeing someone." He was talking about Iris, who he technically wasn't seeing, yet. Hopefully that would change later on today.

"Right," Patty looked embarrassed to have even asked that. She shook her head as she continued, "I should have known."

Barry gave her a questioning look, "What does that mean?"

"Nothing...it's just, you're a great guy Barry, any woman would be lucky to have you." She looked at her watch, "Well, I guess we should get going to the hospital." They threw away their trash and both headed to the hospital together.

When he walked into the lounge, Iris was at her locker, getting herself together before rounds. He walked over to his locker, that was next to hers, hoping to be close enough to her to be able to smell her shampoo. It was his new favorite scent. Instead she barely acknowledged his presence, gave him a dry 'Hey' and walked out of the room. She never even looked at him.

Barry didn't know what happened. When they left each other last night, the both of them seemed to be on the same page, now she was barely speaking to him. He was definitely confused. He wished Cisco was working so he could get some idea on what was going on with her.

During rounds, he kept trying to make eye contact with Iris, but she would just avoid him. Most of the patients were the leftovers from the overnight shift and they weren't too busy yet, so Barry was going to try to talk to Iris. He found her heading towards the lab.

"Iris," he called out for her.

She turned around and looked at him, not saying anything. "Are you upset with me or something?" he asked her. Before she had a chance to answer, Patty popped up.

"Hey, Barry, are you going to the lab?" He turned around to respond and when he turned back to Iris, she was gone.

He didn't get another opportunity to try to talk to her. There was an apartment building fire that packed the ER and kept everyone busy. When their shift was over, he rushed to the lounge, hoping one last time to catch Iris. Lucky for him, she had not left yet.

"Iris." she looked over at him. She had a look of sadness on her face. "Is everything okay? Like with us?"

She took a deep breath before answering, "Yesterday was a mistake."

Barry had a look of disbelief, he didn't understand why. They shared something special that night on the beach, and she thought it was a mistake. He started to rub the back of his neck. "But I thought..."

"Look, you're a nice guy Barry, and fun to hang out with, but I think it would be best if we just stayed friends."

"Friends, right."

"So we're good?" she asked him.

"Yeah...yeah we're good."

"Great, I'll see you around." she gave him a wave goodbye and was on her way.

Barry stood there for a moment trying to figure out what just happened. He didn't know what changed overnight. Upset and confused, he went to his favorite spot where he liked to do his thinking.   
He arrived at the waterfront and made his way to his regular bench. The sun was setting, which was reminding him of his time with Iris. He kept playing back the events of that day, trying to figure out if he did something wrong.

He made the decision to leave the residency early to go to Haiti with doctors without borders. After last night he was thinking about putting the trip off indefinitely, but now, he might as well go soon. It would help mend his broken heart. He knew he had to tell his father, so he prepared to go and meet with him.

Barry arrived at his parents’ house, a bit nervous at what he was about to do. His mother was surprised to see him when he walked through the door. "What are you doing here?" Nora got up and welcomed him with a hug.

"Hey mom, I need to talk to dad."

"Is everything okay?" Barry just shrugged. "He's in the study."

"Thanks mom." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before heading to speak with his father.

"Hey slugger. What brings you here?" Henry asked him when he walked into the room.

"I need to tell you something."

Henry started to get his hopes up. He thought Barry was finally going to go into surgery. "What is it son?"

"I'm leaving my residency to go to Haiti."

That was not what Henry was expecting to hear. His whole demeanor changed. "Barry-"

"Dad, I didn't come her for your permission or your blessing. I came as a courtesy as the chief of surgery and my father."

"You're making a mistake son."

"Why dad? Why is it a mistake to want to live my life the way I want to live it?"

"Because I didn't sacrifice to see you not live up to your potential Barry!"

"Why can't you just want me to be happy, like mom does?" Henry didn't respond. He just stood up and walked over to the bar and poured himself a stiff drink.

"I'm going dad, I'll be leaving in a month."

There was tension in the air, you could cut it with a knife. "You can't come back to the hospital when you return," Henry told him with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"So be it." Barry paused for a moment before he left the study. He went straight for the front door ready to leave when he heard his mother's voice.

"He does love you ya know." Barry scoffed and walked out of the house.

The weekend had arrived and Barry had the night off. He had made plans with Caitlin and Cisco to go to the bar that was around the corner from the hospital. It was karaoke night and Caitlin and Cisco had already signed up for multiple songs.

They had just gotten their first round of drinks when Iris popped up. Barry was surprised to see her, he didn't know he was coming. "Iris, what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Cisco called me and told me to stop through after I got off. I needed a wind down after that shift today."

"Let me get you a drink, what will you have?"

"I'll have a beer, something local."

Barry ordered a draft for Iris and they both went to the booth to meet up with Caitlin and Cisco. They spent the evening laughing and singing. Caitlin convinced Iris to do a duet of Umbrella with her. She was terrible, but they had fun.

Barry had just enough to drink to get him on the stage as well. He was too nervous so Cisco offered to sing with him. They got up on the stage and to everyone's surprise, Barry could sing. They chose to sing 'The Way You Make Me Feel' by Michael Jackson. Cisco was making it a performance, doing his MJ moves, but Iris only had her eyes on Barry the whole time.

They got back to the table. "You guys were great!" Caitlin complimented them.

"Yeah Barr, I didn't know you could sing like that. Brilliant and a great voice, you are holding out on us Allen," Iris added.

Barry blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You know, next month there is a karaoke contest, you should enter Barry." Caitlin told him.

"I can't, I'm leaving in a few weeks."

"Leaving where?" Iris asked him.

"Central City. I am going to Haiti with doctors without borders."

Iris was shocked, she had no idea he was leaving.

"Wow, that's great Barry...would you guys excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

"I'll go with you," Caitlin motioned for Cisco to move so she could get out of the booth.

Once the ladies were gone, Cisco asked, "What's the deal with you and Iris?"

Barry chuckled, "I feel like we have had this conversation before. We're just friends."

"So you never asked her out."

"She doesn't want to go out with me. Trust me, I know. We're just friends..."

"But?" Cisco questioned.

Barry looked around to make sure the girls weren't back yet and then turned back to face Cisco. "We hung out a while back and I thought we were moving towards something more than friends, but the next day, she totally changed. Like nothing happened between us. I don't know man."

"Interesting. So you are still into her?"

"You have no idea how into her I am. But it doesn't matter now, she just wants to be friends and I'm leaving."

They weren't able to finish the conversation because the girls came back to the table. They all had one more round of drinks and then decided to call it a night. Cisco and Caitlin shared an Uber home. Iris was just going to walk, since she lived so close. Barry wasn't going to let her walk alone so he offered, no demanded that he go with her, to make sure she was safe.

Iris held on to his arm as they walked down the street. "I can't believe your leaving."

"Yeah. Needless to say, my father is not happy."

"Based on what you have told me about you guys, I can only imagine."

"He thinks I'm not living up to my potential."

"Barr, you don't know how special you really are do you?"

He looked down at her, "What do you mean?"

"Barry, you are a phenomenal doctor, you really care about your patients, and you have a big heart. You're brilliant and you don't even realize it. To top it off as great as you are, you're so humble. You are who people aspire to be. You even inspired me."

Barry was full on blushing, "What do you mean I inspired you?"

"I submitted an article to the medical journal."

"What? Iris, that's great."

"Thanks, I haven't heard anything back yet, but I'm hopeful."

"You're sure to get published. I'll make sure to get at least 2 copies of it."

Iris laughed at him and leaned her head on his arm, "I'm gonna miss you when you leave."

"Me too."

When they got to her apartment, Iris invited Barry in for coffee, but he declined. They stood out front of the building just looking at each other for a moment. "Thanks for walking me home."

"Anytime." Iris stepped closer to him and pulled him into a hug. They lingered in the moment. Iris taking in the smell of his aftershave and he the smell of her shampoo. Neither of them wanted to part, but had both made the decision to remain friends. Remembering that, Iris finally pulled away.

"Goodnight Barry."

"Goodnight Iris." He watched he walk into the building to make sure she got in okay and then pulled out his phone to get an Uber. On the car ride home, he sat in the back seat, staring out of the window. He kept playing back all the moments that he had shared with Iris since they first met. To his surprise, he came to the realization that he loved her. He loved her, and now he was about to leave her. That thought along with too much beer had his stomach in knots.

  
Iris walked into her apartment and shut the door. She leaned against it and slid down to the floor. Tears started to well in her eyes. She was already accepting the fact they would have to just be friends because he clearly had something going on with Patty and she was not going to be that woman. But, now he was leaving, and she wouldn't even be able to enjoy a friendship with him. She didn't know why she was so affected.

Iris wasn't sure how long she had been sitting at the front door. She was shaken out of her thoughts when Linda came home and tried to get into the apartment. Iris finally got up and let her in.  
"Iris, what's going on, are you okay?" Linda asked her as she followed Iris into the living room.

"Linda, I think I messed up."

"What happened?"

"Things...happened, between Barry and I."

"The doctor at the hospital?"

"Yeah. I thought that we may have been heading towards something, but I was wrong. Now he is leaving and I am crushed."

"You really like him huh?"

Iris thought about it, "Yeah, I do."

"Well tell him the truth Iris. What do you have to lose?"

"A really good friend." Iris started crying again. Linda came closer to her and pulled her into a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have one more chapter planned for this one, hope to have it posted by tomorrow. Thanks again for reading.
> 
> Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on my tumblr @katieb161 or my twitter @slimkatie2


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who was invested in this story! 
> 
> A special thanks to my beta bwhams...I couldn't have done it without you :)
> 
> There is mild smut in this chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> xx

Iris had been thinking about what Linda had said. She figured he was leaving anyway. If he didn't feel the same, at least he would be gone and she wouldn't have to see him at work all the time. She didn't know what to do. There was one thing certain though, she knew that she felt something deeply for him, and it was starting to feel like love.

Barry was meeting with his mother for lunch. This would be the last time they would get to see each other before he left. He would have liked his father there too, but he refused to come. They met each other at the restaurant and went in together. Once they ordered, Nora got down to business.

"Your father wanted to come."

Barry scoffed, "Yeah right."

"He may not have acted like it, but he is going to miss you."

"And I am going to miss you mom," he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I think it will be good for you. You have been walking around here real sullen the last few weeks. How have things been at the hospital?" she asked him.

His hand shot to the back of his neck, "Work had been good...but...I think I am in love with one of my colleagues."

"Iris?"

Barry smiled, "Yeah. Mom, she is perfect. Fierce but gentle, so smart, sexy, she just makes me feel good. I thought maybe she felt the same way about me but she doesn't."

"Did she tell you that?"

"She thinks we should just be friends."

"Does she know how you really feel?"

"I don't know how she couldn't, but no, I have never told her."

Nora chuckled, "I never told you this story but, the first time your father and I went out, it was a terrible date. It rained, the food at the restaurant was awful and the movie we wanted to see was sold out. He was so embarrassed he didn't call me for weeks." Barry gave his mother an attentive look. She continued, "Later on, I saw him in the campus bookstore. I marched right up to him and slapped him across the face."

Barry looked at her with disbelief, "Yeah, so hard a left a hand print. I told him how dare he show me one of the best nights of my life and then not call me after. He couldn't believe it. He didn't think I would ever want to see him again. What he didn't know was that, all that other stuff didn't matter. I liked him anyway and he would have known that if he had bothered to call me."

"That's a pretty good story mom."

"Well, I told it to you to make a point. You won't know what can happen between you and Iris if you don't open up to her about how you really feel. Imagine if I had not run into your father that day. We may have never seen each other again, fallen in love, and had a beautiful boy. Tell Iris how you feel or you are going to regret it."

"Thanks mom, I'm going to miss you."

"I love you so much son, and I am so proud of you."

Barry kept thinking about what his mom had told him, about being honest with Iris. He debated if it would even be worth it knowing he was leaving in a few days. He put that to the side so that he could do some last minute preparation for his trip.

He was to fly to New York first for orientation and training and then he would be leaving for Haiti from there. He still hadn't gotten all of his vaccinations yet, so he enlisted the help of Caitlin with that. He came into the ER on his off day to meet up with her.

Caitlin took Barry into one of the exam rooms to give him the vaccines. He sat of the bed while she wiped his arm with a alcohol pad.

"I can't believe you are really leaving."

"Yeah, I've always wanted to travel. I figure, this would be a way to do that and help people."

"Do you know any French?"

"I took it in high school, but I should probably get Rosetta Stone or something."

"I'm sure Patty is going to miss you."

Barry didn't know why she would bring up Patty, "Huh, Patty?"

"I know she was the girl you were talking about in the diner that day. Iris saw the two of you together." Caitlin answered, unaware of the real truth.

"Wait, Iris thinks I'm dating Patty?"

Caitlin got a look of regret. She stopped making eye contact with him. "Cait?"

"Well, she may have gotten the impression from me that you were interested in Patty. When she mentioned that she saw the two of you together, I just assumed that was who you were talking about. Now I am seeing I may have made a mistake."

Barry couldn't believe it. It all made sense now. She must have seen the two of them at Jitters. He was so mad at himself for not following his gut that morning and just getting him and Iris a coffee and getting to work. He knew he had to talk to her, to at least explain what really happened.

He went to the lounge once Caitlin was finished, hoping that she hadn't left yet. When he raced in, Cisco was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey speedster, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for your trip?" Cisco asked him.

"Did Iris leave already?"

"Yeah about 30 minutes ago, why?"

"I need to talk to her, I'll see you around Cisco." Barry rushed back out the door with a plan to go to her apartment. When he got to his car, he was very shocked to see his father standing there waiting on him. "What are you doing here?" Barry asked him.

Henry stepped closer, "Son I-"

"Dad, I leave in a few days, you can't talk me out of it."

"Son, I'm not here to. I know that we have not always seen eye to eye on a lot of things."

"That's an understatement."

"I don't want to argue with you Barry, I just...I just want to tell you good luck and I will miss you."

Barry's eyes started to well but he refused to let a tear drop. He pulled his father in for a hug, "Thank you, I love you dad."

"I love you too son. I am proud of you."

That was all Barry ever wanted. For his dad to let him make his own choices. He knew that they may have a ways to go, but it was progress. They said one more goodbye and Barry got in the car and started towards Iris' apartment.

Barry ran up the steps in the building and knocked on her door. His hands were sweating and the hairs standing up on his arms due to nervousness. Linda opened the door.

"Yes?" she looked him up and down.

"Hi, um, is Iris home?"

"And you are?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Barry Allen, we um, we work at the hospital together."

Linda perked up, this was Dr. Love, "Yeah, she's here, I'll get her." Linda shut the door and went to retrieve Iris.

When she came to the door, Barry could tell she had just gotten out of the shower. Her hair was in the curly style that he had grown to love.

"Barry, what are you going here?" she asked him.

"Iris, we need to talk." She stepped back from the doorway and motioned for him to come in.

"Iris, I am heading out for a while," Linda said as she walked past the two of them towards the door. She turned around and gave Iris the thumbs up before she walked out.

"Would you like something to drink?" Iris asked him.

"I'm not dating Patty."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Caitlin told me that you think I was dating Patty, I just needed to set the record straight, there was never anything between the two of us.

"Oh," she said and looked down at the ground. He walked closer to her and grabbed her hands.

"Look Iris, that night on the beach, that was something I have never experienced with someone before. You are special to me, and I feel more than a friend should feel for you. I...I love you Iris. And I know I am leaving and I would never ask you to wait for me, but-"

"I will."

Barry looked at her with confusion, "What?"

"I will...wait for you. Barry, the only reason I said we should be friends is because I didn't think you wanted me like that. That night meant something to me too, you mean something to me, so yes, I will wait for you."

He took her arms and wrapped them around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. They gazed into each other’s eyes, "I love you too Barry."

That was all it took to get him to lean down and kiss her. He attacked her lips and tongue like it would be the last time he would ever have the chance to. There was nothing chaste or gentle about it. They made their way over to the couch while they continued kissing each other. Barry was running his fingers through Iris' hair while she peppered kisses all down his neck. When she started sucking on his ear lobe he pulled away.

"Wait, just so I am clear, we are together now, right?"

"I love you, yes, we are together now." she answered. She stood up and pulled him off of the couch and towards her bedroom.

When they got there, she turned around and shut the door. She turned back to Barry and pulled him into another intense kiss. She started pulling at his shirt, trying to get it off. "You sure?" he whispered.  
She nodded and kissed him again. At the invitation, Barry then took control. He led Iris to the bed and laid her on her back. He slowly lifted her shirt, carefully pressing soft kisses on her stomach. He traced his tongue along the curves of her torso while removing the offending garment. Once her shirt was out of the way, he continued with kisses to her neck and shoulders.

Iris found that her voice was caught in her throat, she could only manage soft whispers as a way to show him she was enjoying him. She assisted in removing her bra and sweat pants, revealing herself to him. He admired her only for a second, so that he could continue the task at hand and remove her panties as well. Once she was completely naked, he then took time to learn every inch of her skin. He was never so grateful for sunlight, it added a special shine to her already perfect skin.

"What is it?" Iris asked him.

He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, "You're a dream." he told her confidently. Iris was turned on by the compliment and kissed him passionately while rolling them over so she was on top of him.   
She wasn't as gentle with removing his clothing. A few buttons from his shirt hit the floor as she practically ripped it off of him. She fiddled with his belt, getting frustrated it was taking so long. Barry went back to taking control and took care of the rest of it. Standing them both up so that he could get his pants off.

They both stood there, Iris stroking his chest, Barry running his fingers through her hair, gazing into each other’s eyes. Both trying to memorize each other’s faces, trying to savior and remember this moment, not knowing when they would ever get one again.

They ended back on the bed with Iris laying down and Barry going to his knees. He took in the sight before his eyes, and slowly made his way to her center. He took his time, using the sounds of her moans and grip of his hair to determine what she liked. He knew he had hit the jackpot when she exploded down his throat.

He kissed his way back up to her lips where she received his tongue in her mouth. "Nightstand drawer," she whispered to him, indicating where she kept her condoms. "Um, check the date though." Barry chuckled as he dug for the condoms, once he found them he did indeed see they were still good. He put one on and got back to his love.

Barry climbed on top of Iris and looked into her eyes, he wanted to make sure she was ready. She nodded and he slowly entered her. Iris jerked slightly, trying to get use to the feeling. It didn't take long before her discomfort was turned into pleasure. Barry went at a slow pace, trying to savor the moment. Enjoying the way she reacted to the sounds coming from him.

Barry wanted this moment to last as long as possible. He rolled them over so that Iris was on top of him. She took control this time and set a faster pace. Barry grabbed her hips and they grinded together until they couldn't contain themselves anymore. Knowing that Linda had left the apartment, neither of them held back just how good it felt.

They cuddled together with Iris laying on Barry's chest. "I can't believe we wasted so much time," Iris said, "We could have been doing this."

"Well, I am going to miss doing this. I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too, but you'll only be gone a year right?"

"Right. We will be able to write, like old times. It will be romantic," he told her.

She kissed his chest, "Look, I went over a year without a date, I can do it again."

"Iris West, can I take you out on a date in a year?"

"Just don't be late," she kissed him again.

 

The next night, the gang met up at their regular bar to say one last goodbye to Barry. He was due to leave for New York in the morning. Cisco wasn't surprised when Iris and him walked in hand in hand. Caitlin was a little more surprised, but happy for them. She kept apologizing to them both for the misunderstanding.

It happened to be karaoke night. This time Barry decided to sing by himself, and he didn't need a few drinks to do it. Iris wasn't sure what he had picked, once she heard the lyrics, she realized he picked the song 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls and he was singing it to her. She knew he had to be up early, but the way he was serenading her, she knew she had to be with him one more time that night.

Barry and Iris walked into the airport, fingers intertwined. He stayed at her place after they left the bar. He had already packed up his apartment and put all of his stuff in storage. He had planned on staying at a hotel near the airport, but Iris was not going to allow that. It was probably a bad idea to fall asleep and wake up in each other’s arms because it was going to be hard to go without it for so long.

They made it to the security gate and started their teary goodbyes. "I'll write you once a week," he told her, "and skype whenever I can."

Iris held onto him for dear life, "You better. And when you get there, let me know what you need so I can send you a care package." She looked up at him and he wiped a stray tear that was running down her cheek. "I'm gonna miss you Barry. Promise you'll call me when you land in New York."

"I promise, I love you Iris."

"I love you too." They gave each other the kiss to end all kisses. It was reminiscent of every movie airport kiss you could think of. Eventually, they had to stop. Barry had a flight to catch.

Iris watched as he went through security, blowing kisses at him until he rounded the corner and she couldn't see him anymore. The whole thing was bittersweet. She got her man, but he was leaving her already. She knew it was something he had to do, and understood, even though she was going to miss him.

Barry sat on the plane and looked out of the window while it took off. He felt like things were finally headed in the right direction. He made progress with his father, he was going to fulfill a dream in Haiti, and he fell in love. And she loved him back. The best part of this trip was that he was going to get to come back to Iris. And he was already counting down the days that he could run home to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will have a part 2 to this story, but I do not know when I will be starting on that one. I may post some drabbles from my football AU, but my schedule is about to get tight and I won't have as much time to write.
> 
> As always, feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on my tumblr @katieb161 or twitter @slimkatie2

**Author's Note:**

> As always feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on my tumblr @katieb161


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